"Go." Jeako said, as he slipped his glasses up his nose. Already reaching for his guns, he knew what he was going to do- He had done it once before, and would likely do it again. Pulling, he arced his arms out and began moving in, pulling the triggers to his revolvers as he went, hoping to shoot as many of the chess pieces as possible, and hopefully disabiling them.

With the veritable hail of large rocks, lead and holy magic that was flung in their direction, the chess pieces were hurled in all sorts of directions. Still, they certainly weren't out of the fight, clambering back to their feet or out from under the boulders. Until, that was, one of Jaeko's bullets smacked into a tiny figure in a crown. Instantly, the darker half of the mob held up their hands in surrender.

Unfortunately, the others were not in the least bit affected by this, and continued with their campaign of stabbing people in the ankles. Assassin, not understanding the reason behind the sudden surrender of half the pieces, swatted a couple of those still fighting into a wall with his sword.

"Huh?" was all Petty could manage in response to the sudden surrender of the chess pieces. Then it clicked. A game of chess ended when the king was taken. Someone had probably hit the black king with their last barrage of attacks.

His pair of keen eyes quickly scanned the remaining hostile pieces, looking for the corresponding piece with deadly intent.

The king wasn't hard to locate, and was struck swiftly by an arrow. Idran's own throw missed as the king was knocked well out of his boomerang's path. It didn't matter though, as the surrender of the remaining pieces was immediate.

With both sides now neutralised, they trooped off out the door for unfathomable reasons of their own. This left the group on their own with the portal. Well, aside from the groaning Jin, anyway.

(Apologies to all concerned for never finishing this. I figured I should somewhat belatedly provide an epilogue to wrap things up.)

With the chess set defeated and Keshin soon shoved right back through the portal at crossbow-point, things were back under control. Thoroughly demoralised, Jin revealed the true location of Siolen's husband (Elsewhere in the house) in hopes of leniency in sentencing. Keshin, for his part, remained stubbornly silent throughout.

Following the joyous reunion, the captives were turned over to the local guard, who also put Keshin's property under a lockdown until they could check out the portals infesting the building. Although some of the goods stolen from caravans were recovered, for the most part they were gone.

Jin's raiders apparently scattered before the Guard could catch up with them, but without Keshin to provide them with transportation, it seemed unlikely they would pose a threat in future. As for the sorceror's motives, they remained a mystery. As best anyone could tell, he had been trying to amass an army of animated statues, but nobody could tell why.

Each member of the group received their hazard pay, along with a promise from Siolen to aid them if they needed anything in future. Following this, they went their separate ways.

When the war broke out, Keshin was released from prison with the understanding that he would use his talents to bolster the city's defences with animated statues. However, he was able to make his escape during the confusion of Vaniyakna's occupation of the city. He has not been seen or heard from since.

(Experience awards amount to 750 apiece, and hazard pay brings the total to 3000 gil, minus what was spent on potions.)